Reenforced bags



R. G. NICHOLS REENFORCED BAGS July 16, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 OriginalFiled Feb. 25, 1959 Plaie ATTORNEYS United States Patent 'Iihe inventionrelates in general to bagsl for containing -articles and the method ofmaking same and more particularly tobags having an vopening strip in themouth thereof which strip is of such construction that an exceptionallystrong and air tight seal is obtained and which bag may be opened bytearing the opening strip from the mouthof vthe bag.

This. application is a` continuation of my application `Serial No..801,426 iiledFebruary 25, 1959, now abandoned, which in turn isacontinuation-in-part of my application Serial'No. 681,070, iiled August29, 1957, now

abandoned.

An object of the invention is to provide amethod of `makinga bag with anopening strip in the mouth thereof which is secured at iirst and secondspaced portions with an intermediate portion *loosely residing in themouth of thelbag.

Another object ofthe invention is to provide a bag with an openingstripin the mouth thereof which is secured. at iirstiand second spacedportions with an intermediatefportionloosely residing in the mouth ofthe bag.

Another object of the invention is to provide a meth- `odof making a bagwith a `fibrous opening strip inthe mouth thereof which strip has a heatscalable material secured to both sides thereof with the walls of thebag beingof heatsealable material secured to the heat sealable materialon both sides of the opening strip. This provides an exceptionallystrongr and air-tight seal 4and `when the opening strip is torn from themouthof the bag the heat sea'lable material on the strip `separates fromthe fibrous material ofthe strip rather than from the `heatsealablematerial ofthe bag.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bag with a fibrousopening strip in the mouththereof Vwhich strip has a heat scalablematerial secured` to both sides `thereof with the wallsof the bag beingof heat scalable material secured to the heat scalable material on bothsides of the opening strip.

Another object of the invention is to provide a polyethylene bagv with apaper type openingstrip in the mouth thereof which striphas polyethyleneextruded on both sides thereof with the polyethylene walls of the bagbeing heat ,and/ or pressure sealed tothe polyethylene on both sides ofthe opening strip.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bag with an openingstrip in the mouth thereof with the walls ofthe bag sealed tothe strip,`the `strip having shoulders thereon to locate the strip. in Ithe mouthof the bag.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bag having an upper openend with `a card or strip member therein and with the brag sealed to thestrip member on one` sidef and not on the other.

Another object of` the invention is` -to provide a bag having front andback panels of heat sealable material sealed together at opposed edgesto` form an open end in the `'bag within which a. strip-member resideswith only one of the panels being secured to oney side of the stripmember at first and second end portions thereof only or along-thecomplete length thereof.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bag V constructed. of aplastic lmwhich can be opened with vention may' be had by referringto-the following de- 3,097,788 Patented July 16, 1963 fice scriptionandclaims, taken in -conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded isometric view of a folded sheet of polyethyleneof any length and a paper strip coated on bothsidesof any length whichare used in `having the mouth or open upper end thereof sealed shut;

FIG. 5 is `a view of the bag formed after the step shown in-FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a View taken alongthe line 6 6 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a View of another bag made by the teachings of the presentinvention;

FIG. `8 is a View taken along-the line 5 8 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a View taken alongA the line l9 9 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 10 is a view similar to FIG. 6` but taken ofa modied bagconstructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention;

FIG. l1 is a side elevational view of another bag made under theteachings of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a view of the bag of FIG. 11 taken from the back;

FIG. 13 is -a View taken generally along the line 13-13 of FIG. l2;

FIG. 14 is a fragmentary isometric view partially in `section of the bagshown in FIG. 12;

FIG. 15 is a view similar to FIG. 12 showing a modified form of the bag;

FIG. 16 is a view of the bag of FIG. 15 taken from the back;

`that the sheet may be of any practical length. This polyethylene sheet20 is folded upon itself to form a folded edge 22 at one side portionland liirst and second adjacent edge portions 24 and 25, respectively,at the other Side portion. The edges 124 and 2S of the polyethylenesheet 20 may also be referredto as first and second edge portions andfor the purpose of description, the sheet 20 may also be said to havethird and fourth-edge portions 27 and 2S, respectively. The next step inmaking the bag-is that of selecting a second sheet 311 which, in FIGS. 1iand 2, has also been broken-at both `ends to indicate that it mayv beof any practical length. This second sheet 31 is constructed of `iibrousmaterial and more preferably of paper Ior cardboard. In FIGS. =1 and 2,the second sheet 31 is made up of asuper calendered twentyve, poundpaper vandthis paper has been laminated on both sides with .0005 inchof4 polyethylene. The polyethylene is put on the paper by extruding thesame while hot ontothe twenty-five pound paper. By extrwding thepolyethylene on the paper whilehot, this causes the polyethylene to soakinto the interstices of the paper itself providing a very good bondtherebetween. The first and second sheets 20 and 31, respectively, inFIG. l, have been shown in an exploded -view to better show the twosheets Aof material. The second sheet 31 is positioned between the rstand second adjacent edge portions 24 and 25, respectively, of the hrstsheet 20, as best shown in FIG. 2. `It will also be noted that thesecond sheet 31 has been provided with holes 33 at spaced intervals.Each of the holes will be included in Ione of the iinished bags.

The assembled rst and second sheets 20 and 31, respectively, are movedtogether to sealing and cutting stations in a direction generallycorresponding with the directional arrow 35. yIn FIG. 2, the sealing andcutting stations have been indicated only schematically by the dotdashline 37. It should be readily recognized that many different types ofsealing and cutting apparatus may be utilized at this station to sealand then cut the sheets of material. The folded first sheet Ztl issealed at 39 along what might be referred to fas a rst line whichextends between the folded edge 22 and adjacent edge portions 24 and 25,respectively. This also seals a portion of the second sheet 31 betweenthe adjacent edge portions 24 and 25, `as at 40. This cutting andsealing operation along the above referred to first line forms a portionof two bags since the seal is cut substantially down the middle. Whenthe `first and second sheets are again advanced to the cutting station,the same sealing and cutting openation is performed along what might bereferred to as a second `line to iinish the other side of the abovereferred to bag and complete one side of the next bag. In FIG. 2, acomplete bag is shown as severed from the two sheets of material.

FIG. 3 is yan isometric view of the bag made by the hereinabovedescribed method and as will be noted, this bag includes front and backpanels of polyethylene material 42 and 43, respectively. Each of thefront and back panels 42 and 43 has iirst and second edge port-ions 45yand 46 which are sealed together by means of heat and/or pressure toform a bag having an open end 48. The bag includes a polyethylene coatedpaper strip 50` or opening strip, as it will sometimes be referred to.This opening strip t) resides in the open end 43 of the bag and hasfirst and second end portions 52 -and 53, respectively. The rst endportion `52 of the opening strip 50 is bonded between the irst edgeportion `45 of the front and back panels 42 and 43, respectively, as at55, and the second end portion 53 of the opening strip is bonded betweenthe second edge portion 46 of the front and back panels, as at 56. Aswill be noted in FIG. 9, which is a plan View of the bag shown in FIG.3, an intermediate portion 57 of the opening strip loosely resides inthe open end 48 of the bag. The hole 33 in the opening strip 50 servesthe purpose `of enabling one to hang the bag on a suitable type hangerfor storing the same either awaiting use or accomplishing its purpose incontaining articles of commerce.

The strip of material in the bag, shown and illustrated in FIGS. 3 and9, serves the purpose of acting as a leaf or an entering strip whichextends into the opening 48 in the top of the bag between the front andback panels 42 and 43. In bags of polyethylene, this is highly desirablesince the material where the open end of the bag is formed tends toadhere rather tenaciously, thus making it extremely diliicult to openthe bag to put material into the same. The strip 50 also serves thepurpose of allowing printing or marking to be put on the surface thereofso that yadditional labels or markings which are usually attached by wayof stapling or the like, may be obviated.

In the event that it is desired to have a bag which is air tight, onefurther step is performed on the bag which is shown in FIGS. 3 and 9.'This step has been shown in FIG. 4 and includes sealing theintermediate portion 57 of the strip '50 between the first and secondend portions `'52, and 53. The apparatus for accomplishing this step hasbeen shown only schematically but includes a pair of heated rollers 60which are urged together while the bag is passed therebetween in thegeneral direction shown by the arrow 62 in FIG. 4. This step produces aseal 63 along what was the open end of the bag just prior to the step.The bag produced by the step shown in FIG. 4 has again been shown inFIG. 5. A sectional view has been taken along the line 6-6 of the bagshown in FIG. 5 to more clearly show the polyethylene which has beenlaminated on both sides of the paper. In FIG. 6, the twenty-tive poundsuper calendered paper has been indicated by the reference numeral 66and the polyethylene coating on either side of the paper has beenindicated by the reference numeral 67. The front and back panels ofpolyethylene material have been indicated by the reference numerals 42and 43, respectively, the same reference numerals which were applied toFIG. 3. The place at which the front and back panels have been sealed tothe polyethylene coating 67 on the paper 66 has been indicated as at 63.In reality, the bond between these two materials at this place isessentially a homogenous mixture with no dened dividing line, but forthe sake of clarity and for more ease in illustrating the same, adelined dividing line has been indicated between the front and backpanels 42 and 43 and the polyethylene layers 67.

FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate another bag made by the teachings of thepresent invention. The opening strip in this modification has beenindicated by the reference numeral 70 and includes cardboard 71 coatedon opposed sides thereof with a layer of polyethylene 72. Thepolyethylene is applied in much the same manner as describedhereinabove. 'Ihe opening strip 70 includes iirst and second endportions 74 and 75, respectively. The opening strip 70 a'lso includesiirst and second shoulders 77 and 78, respectively, integrally formedwith the first and second end portions 74 and 75, respectively. Aninsert tab 80 is integrally formed with a lower portion of the strip andincludes converging side walls 81 and 82. As will be noted from FIG. 7,the shoulders 77 and 78 serve the purpose of resting on the wall meanswhich make up the upper peripheral edge of the bag to locate the samewith respect thereto and prevents the strip from falling down into thebag. This is extremely desirable when the opening strips have to beindividually placed and sealed in the mouth of individual bags. Theconverging side walls `81 and 82 [on the insert tab 80 serve the purposeof allowing for variations in the width of the Open end of the bag andstill permitting the opening strip to be sealed thereto, as at 84, toprovide an air-tight container. When the opening strip 70 is torn fromthe bag, in order to open the upper end thereof, the cardboard material711 separates from the polyethylene layers 72 on either side thereofrather than the polyethylene layers 72 separating from the side panelswhich make up the sides of the bag. This illustrates the exceptionallyair-tight seal which is obtained and further illustrates the remarkablestrength of the seal between the polyethylene material.

FIG. 10 shows a modication of the bags of FIGS. 3 and 5 in that thefront panel 42 has been completely sealed along its entire upper edgeportion to the opening strip 50. This leaves the back panel 43 sealed tothe str-ip only at the first and second end portions 52 and 53,respectively. The bag shown in FIG. l0 may be produced from the bagshown in FIG. 3 by taking this bag and subjecting it to a sealingoperation similar to that described above and shown in FIG. 4 to producethe bag of FIG. 5. The only difference is that only the front roller `60(FIG. 4) is heated and the back roller serves merely as a back-up rollthereby producing a seal 63 only between the front panel 42 and thepolyethylene 67 on the paper 66 at the intermediate portion (FIG. l0).This lleaves the back panel 43 loose from the polyethylene 67 on theother side of the paper 66 as is clearly shown in FIG. 10.

The bag shown in FIGS. 11-14 is similar to the bags illustrated in FIGS.1-10 and includes front and back panels 88 and 89 respectively, ofpolyethylene. Each of the front and back panels 88 and y89 is providedwith first and second edge portions 92 and 93, respectively. The firstand second edge portions of the front Kand back panels are sealedtogether as at 915 to form an open ended bag. A paper strip 98 which mayalso be referred to as an opening strip has first and second opposedsides 99 and 1100 which are coated with a polyethylene material in amanner which has been welll shown and illustrated in FIGS. 6, 8 and 10.The paper strip 98` resides in the open end of the bag (FIGS. 13 and`14) and has rst and second end portions 102 and 103 respectively and anintermediate portion 104 therebetween. Only the first opposed side 99 atthe first and second end portions 102 and .103 respectively, of thepaper strip are bonded to the rst and second edge portions of the frontpanel S8 as indicated at I106 and 10'7, lrespectively. The intermediateportion of the first opposed side 99' of the paper strip is sealed tothe front panel as indicated at 109. The second opposed side 100 of thepaper strip 98 is unattached or in other words is not sealed to thefront panel at any place along the extent thereof and specifically notat the first and second end portions or at the intermediate portion.With this particular type of construction, the back panel 89 of the bagadjacent the second side of the paper strip which may be referred to asa ap 97 generally assumes a position away from the paper strip as shownin the full line drawing of FIGS. 13 and 14 and in some instancesoccupies the dot-dash position 11'1. lt will be appreciated by thoseskilled in the art that the separating of a plastic film bag such aspolyethylene, in order to put material therein, is difficult and by theuse of the here-in disclosed construction, it is possible to open thebag immediately thereby reducing labor time when using the bag forWhatever purpose desired. It will be noted that in the bag disclosed inFIGS. 1l-14 the back panel is llonger than the iront panel, or in otherWords, extends up higher on the paper strip. The primary reason for thisis that the front or first opposed side 99 of the paper strip generallycarries advertising material thereon and it is desirable to keep thefront panel and seal 109' at the bottom of the paper strip so as not tointerfere with any of the advertising material. This seal is generallymade by a manufacturer of the bag. The bag is finally sealed by apurchaser thereof and as a result, the back panel is made longer wherebya more unskilled seal rnay be made. This is acceptable because there isusually no advertising material on the back of the strip.

The bag shown in FIGS. 15-17 is generally similar to that shown in FIGS.1114 and where like structure results, identical reference numerals havebeen utilized. The major difference in the construction is seen in FIGS.15 and 417 Awherein the front panel 8-8 is sealed only to the first andsecond end portions of the paper strip and no seal has been utilized atthe intermediate portion 104 of the paper strip which has not beensealed to the front panel 88. As mentioned hereinabove, the end portions102 and 103 of the rrst side 99 of the paper strip have been sealed tothe front panel. The back panel 89 of the bag shown in FIGS. 1547 is thesame as the back panel shown lin the bag of FIGS. l1-l4 with theexception that it Ahas been made substantially the same length as thefront panel.

It will thus be seen from the teachings of the present invention thatwith the use of the heat scalable polyethylene material in combinationwith the opening strip which has been utilized in the mouth of the bagthat an extremely strong seal -may be obtained and yet the bag may berelatively easily opened by grasping the opening strip and simplytearing the same from the mouth of the bag. The opening strip alsoprovides a convenient means of marking different bags which are to -beused for different purposes or for carrying advertising media thereon.The utility and desirability of a bag, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 9, hasbeen disclosed hereinabove, but the best use of this type is to enableone to more quickly get into the bag to deposit material therein evenwhen resorting to the step shown in FIG. 4, thereafter. The step shownin FIG. 4 is not at all times performed since for many uses the user`does not care whether the bag is provided with a hermetic seal or not.

Although this invention has been described in its preferred form with acertain degree of particularity, it is understood that the presentdisclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of exampleand that numerous changes in the details of construction and thecombination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to withoutdeparting from the spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafterclaimed.

I claim:

l. A bag, including ia polyethylene sheet folded on itself lto providefront and back panels and having an open end spaced from thepanel-providing fold line, said front and back panels each having firstand second edge portions extending transversely of the panel-providingfold line, means sealing said first and second edge portions of saidfront and back panels .together except immediately adjacent said openend -to provide thereby end flaps, a paper strip having first and secondsides coated with polyethylene and positioned in said open end of saidbag, said strip having a dimension parallel to s-aid fold line equal tothe distance between the first and second edges of each of said panelsand a dimension perpendicular to said fold line greater than the apdimension perpendicular to said fold line, said paper strip being bondedto only one of said end flaps.

2. A bag, including a sheet of thermoplastic film material folded onitself tto provide front and back panels and having an open end spacedfrom the panel-providing fold line, said front and back panels eachhaving first and second edge portions extending transversely of thepanelproviding fold line, means sealing said first and second edgeportions of said front and back panels together to form an envelope`opten at the founth side, the envelopedefining bonds adjacent saidfourth side terminating short of said fourth side to provide end aps onsaid front and back panels, a paper strip having first and second sidescoated with thermoplastic film material heat bondable to the first-namedfilm material land positioned in said open end of said envelope, saidstrip having a dimension parallel to said fold line substantially equalto the distance between the rst and second edges of each of said panelsand a dimension perpendicular to said fold line greater than the flapdimension perpendicular to said fold line, said strip extending but partWay into the envelope, said paper strip being heat bonded to only one ofsaid end flaps, and said other flap at 'the opposed unbonded endsthereof defining slits facilitating the unfolding of said other ldap toprovide access to the envelope with the bonds adjacent said fourth sideopposing the tendency of the slits to enlarge.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,480,500 Moore Aug. 30, 1949 2,620,842 Hoeppner Dec. 9, 1952 2,663,415Roehm Dec. 22, 1953 2,819,010 Amiguet Jan. 7, 1958 3,011,689 Korn et alDec. 5, 19611

2. A BAG, INCLUDING A SHEET OF THERMOPLASTIC FILM MATERIAL FOLDED ON ITSELF TO PROVIDE FRONT AND BACK PANELS AND HAVING AN OPEN END SPACED FROM THE PANEL-PROVIDING FOLD LINE, SAID FRONT AND BACK PANELS EACH HAVING FIRST AND SECOND EDGE PORTIONS EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY OF THE PANELPROVIDING FOLD LINE, MEANS SEALING SAID FIRST AND SECOND EDGE PORTIONS OF SAID FRONT AND BACK PANELS TOGETHER TO FORM AN ENVELOPE OPEN AT THE FOURTH SIDE, THE ENVELOPEDEFINING BONDS ADJACENT SAID FOURTH SIDE TERMINATING SHORT OF SAID FOURTH SIDE TO PROVIDE END FLAPS ON SAID FRONT AND BACK PANELS, A PAPER STRIP HAVING FIRST AND SECOND SIDES COATED WITH THERMOPLASTIC FILM MATERIAL HEAT BONDABLE TO THE FIRST-NAMED FILM MATERIAL AND POSITIONED IN SAID OPEN END OF SAID ENVELOPE, SAID STRIP HAVING A DIMENSION PARALLEL TO SAID FOLD LINE SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TO THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE FIRST AND SECOND EDGES OF EACH OF SAID PANELS AND A DIMENSION PERPENDICULAR TO SAID FOLD LINE GREATER THAN THE FLAP DIMENSION PERPENDICULAR TO SAID FOLD LINE, SAID STRIP EXTENDING BUT PART WAY INTO THE ENVELOPE, SAID PAPER STRIP BEING HEAT BONDED TO ONLY ONE OF SAID END FLAPS, AND SAID OTHER FLAP AT THE OPPOSED UNBONDED ENDS THEREOF DEFINING SLITS FACILITATING THE UNFOLDING OF SAID OTHER FLAP TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO THE ENVELOPE WITH THE BONDS ADJACENT SAID FOURTH SIDE OPPOSING THE TENDENCY OF THE SLITS TO ENLARGE. 